Amazon is recruiting an executive with a background in technology consistent with embedded finance and digital currencies.
Amazon's posting is for Head of Product, Blockchain for Amazon Managed Blockchain, a service that develops use cases for distributed finance, supply chain, financial services and digital identity. Amazon says it's particularly interested in either DeFi — which usually refers to financial transactions that are executed by smart contracts on blockchains — or traditional financial services.
DeFi has become popular among digital currency developers and fintech startups as a way to streamline payments and other financial services by either eliminating or hastening steps in transaction processing.
Amazon does not have a publicly known digital currency project, but it has reportedly considered the concept. Amazon shoppers would convert cash to digital currency for use across Amazon's shopping, entertainment and other services, a feature that would encourage users to remain inside Amazon's app.
Amazon has also developed a range of retail technologies such as checkout-free payments. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
The e-commerce giant's job posting comes as Diem, the Facebook-affiliated stablecoin, approaches launch. A recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond suggests large technology companies may have difficulty offering their own private currencies due to a lack of scale.
